Transcendental Youth (Song)
Transcendental Youth is the 12th song on the album Transcendental Youth. Lyrics Cold through broken baseboards I despise this town Snow on the sunroof Two stories down Hold hands Wish the snow away Rise in the darkness Of the gathering day Sing Sing for ourselves alone Speak into The microphone Cedar smudge our headbands And take to the skies Soar ever-upwards On air gone black with flies Shroud ourselves in the cosmos Let the music play Bright star of the morning Shine on his rising way Sing In the night In the nameless dark Father long gone But we bear his mark Learn some secrets Never tell Stay sick Don't get well Clutch those broken headboards Ride the highest wave Dusky diamonds shining in the far depths of the cave Try to explain ourselves Babble on and on By the time you receive this, we'll be gone Sing Sing high While the fire climbs Sing one for the old times Comments by John Darnielle About this Song *"You look at this one as what 'Satan' would be with more than one person involved. It gets into the coping strategies you use for mental illness, which are really the fabric of what keeps society moving forward at all." -- Mountain Goats' John Darnielle Discusses the 'Satan Record' (Rolling Stone) * "This is a song about, um…. It’s about how you miraculously — because you have a certain measure of contempt for your own body and you have never really felt comfortable in your own skin — but you miraculously go through a season when it seems like your body is your best friend, and you hole up in your room and, uh, decline to emerge from it, uh, with the person you’ve chosen to hole up with." -- 2012-10-23 - Pabst Theatre - Milwaukee, WI * "I struggle to describe what this song is about, uh, because it's about, uh, human sexuality, which sounds really dry, right. So, uh - but at the same time - it's about - so if you live in the Pacific Northwest, and, and maybe if you've been nineteen and extraordinarily lonely in a, in a January or February here, right, and it's fuckin' gray, and even if you grew up here, even if you spent lots of summers here, still the Januaries and Februaries are going to be extraordinarily rough, right, and so - It's, it's kind of rougher than where it snows and is icy for real, because, like, in the Midwest, it gets really cold, it's so fuckin' metal, right -- yeah, man, it's like twenty fuckin' below and no one can move, you know. But here, it just sort of is like it's this thing, this thing descends on you, right, and then it rests with you for several months. A lot of people try to pretend it's not a big deal. It's actually a big deal. And, and but maybe you find somebody to be with in a room and not leave for days on end. And it's a really special, amazing thing especially if you're kind of sick in your mind and you can't seem to get better and you can't relate to people very well. This is called 'Transcendental Youth.'" -- 2012-12-17 - The Showbox - Seattle, WA Things Referenced in this Song Live Shows this Song Was Played at *2012-01-19 - Antone's - Austin, TX *2012-01-21 - Tipitina's - New Orleans, LA *2012-01-23 - Club Downunder - Tallahassee, FL *2012-01-24 - The Social - Orlando, FL *2012-01-28 - The EARL - Atlanta, GA *2012-01-30 - 40 Watt Club - Athens, GA *2012-01-31 - Visulite Theatre - Charlotte, NC *2012-02-02 - The Grey Eagle - Asheville, NC *2012-02-04 - The Haw River Ballroom - Saxapahaw, NC *2012-04-02 - The Barbican - London, England *2012-05-01 - The Bakery - Perth, Australia *2012-05-04 - The Zoo - Brisbane, Australia *2012-05-09 - The Toff in Town - Melbourne, Australia *2012-05-10 - The Corner Hotel - Melbourne, Australia *2012-10-10 - Ottobar - Baltimore, MD *2012-10-11 - Theater of Living Arts - Philadelphia, PA *2012-10-13 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY *2012-10-14 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY *2012-10-15 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY *2012-10-16 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY *2012-10-18 - Daytrotter Session - Echo Mountain Recording Studio - Asheville, NC *2012-10-18 - House of Blues - Boston, MA *2012-10-19 - The Haunt - Ithaca, NY *2012-10-20 - Phoenix Concert Theatre - Toronto, Ontario *2012-10-22 - Fine Arts Center - Calvin College - Grand Rapids, MI *2012-10-23 - Pabst Theatre - Milwaukee, WI *2012-10-24 - The Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, MN *2012-10-27 - The Vic Theatre - Chicago, IL *2012-11-29 - Terminal West - Atlanta, GA *2012-11-30 - The Grey Eagle - Asheville, NC *2012-12-01 - Mercy Lounge - Nashville, TN *2012-12-03 - Cain's Ballroom - Tulsa, OK *2012-12-04 - Granada Theater - Dallas, TX *2012-12-05 - Emo's East - Austin, TX *2012-12-08 - Crescent Ballroom - Phoenix, AZ *2012-12-10 - The Irenic - San Diego, CA *2012-12-12 - Masonic Lodge - Hollywood Forever Cemetery - Los Angeles, CA *2012-12-13 - Troubadour - West Hollywood, CA *2012-12-14 - The Fillmore - San Francisco, CA *2012-12-16 - Aladdin Theater - Portland, OR *2012-12-17 - The Showbox - Seattle, WA *2014-02-26 - A.V. Club Pioneering Session - Bowery Electric - New York, NY *2014-02-28 - Rangos Ballroom - Carnegie Mellon University - Pittsburgh, PA *2014-04-17 - Club Helsinki - Hudson, NY *2014-04-20 - Old Town School of Folk Music - Chicago, IL *2019-09-28 - City Winery - Philadelphia, PA *2019-11-09 - Slaktkyrkan - Stockholm, Sweden *2019-11-10 - Rockefeller - Oslo, Norway *2019-11-11 - Pustervik - Gothenburg, Sweden *2019-11-14 - De Helling - Utrecht, The Netherlands *2019-11-15 - O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire - London, England *2019-11-16 - Brudenell Social Club - Leeds, England *2019-11-20 - Button Factory - Dublin, Ireland *2019-11-22 - Sala 0 - Madrid, Spain *2019-11-23 - Cafe Torgal - Ourense, Spain *2019-11-24 - Lisboa ao Vivo - Lisbon, Portugal Videos of this Song *2012-10-18 - House of Blues - Boston, MA *2012-10-23 - Pabst Theatre - Milwaukee, WI Category:Transcendental Youth songs Category:Video